Lovely Basement, The - Cornstalk Girl

Post-cool or too old to care? The Lovely Basement say they set out to mix alt-country with the Velvet Underground. They also say they failed, but quite like the result. Try it out for yourself on their new single, Cornstalk Girl.

The A-side might just be the best thing they've done – a gentle, melodic outing with a lovely vocal from Katie Scaife. It’s a beautiful slice of alt-country-style Americana, infused with a bit of the aforementioned Velvet Underground – and a chopping guitar that wouldn’t sound out of place on an album by the VU’s British counterpart, Fairport Convention. Make of that what you want, but it’s all good. On the B-side is a great cover of Beat Happening's Angel Gone.

The Lovely Basement, one of the best-kept secrets of the indie world, are the newest addition to the Precious roster as part of our ongoing singles club. They’re Katie Scaife (ex-not-being-in-a-band-you’ll-have-heard-of), Kevin Bache (songsmith with ex-Janice Long favourites the Raw Herbs), Steve Dew (ex-Spaceways) and Paul Waterworth (ex-the Moon Flowers).

Since the release in 2019 of their first album, Just Because You Can, The Lovely Basement have drawn admiring glances from all over the place: “the sweetness of Yo La Tengo and the raggedness of The Pastels”; “not dissimilar to Paisley Underground veterans the Dream Syndicate”; “tossing off songs with the looseness of early Faces”. Again … make of that what you want, but it’s all good too!

Cornstalk Girl is the first offering from their fourth album, Lowlands, which will be a co-operative release by No Aloha Records in Spain and Precious. The band were helped on the track by old friend John Parish (PJ Harvey, Howe Gelb, Eels) who recorded the lead vocals to add an extra certain something, and Sean Read (Famous Times Studio), whose masterful mastering provides additional polish.